


kick off your boots (in the passenger seat)

by sunlitseas



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Bellamy loves Clarke's hair, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Hugging, Clarke loves Bellamy's arms, Driving, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Late Night Conversations, Love Confessions, Mutual Pining, POV Multiple, Season 04
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:34:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26858287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunlitseas/pseuds/sunlitseas
Summary: Clarke really needs to learn how to drive the Rover. She knows just the person to ask.
Relationships: Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin
Comments: 4
Kudos: 92





	1. throw the keys back to me

**Author's Note:**

> I can't believe it took that shitshow of a final season to inspire me to finally write some bellarke but here we are! This was based on a head canon I have about Bellamy teaching Clarke to drive during S4 but it kinda ran away from me. It's vaguely set in the time-jump between 401 and 402. All titles from the song Gasoline by HAIM.
> 
> Kisses to  harleyhearts  for beta-reading this with almost no context. 
> 
> Enjoy.

Bellamy is exhausted. The six hour night shift dragged on more than usual and he’d barely got any sleep the night before, the impending death wave heavy on his mind. He makes a right turn down the hall into the ship’s central room, usually empty at this time of night, safe for a few night owls. Giving the room a perfunctory once over, he pauses mid-stride when he recognises one of the stragglers, bent over a notebook at a table.

She doesn’t notice his approach, only looking up when he drops into the seat opposite her, blinking up at him with wide eyes. Clarke immediately angles her arm to cover the open pages of what he now recognises as a sketchbook before he can even think to glance at the contents. 

“Hey.” he greets, quiet, slinging his rifle over the back of his chair as he speaks.

“Hi.” she half-smiles at him. “I forgot you were on shift tonight.” 

He raises his eyebrows at that “Like you forgot to sleep?” 

Clarke sighs, picking at a loose thread on her jacket. “I didn’t forget. Just tried and failed.” She doesn’t elaborate, just meets his eyes like she knows she’s already said enough. Bellamy has to fight the urge to cover her hands with his own.

Instead, he changes the subject, nodding down at the sketchbook still open on the table “What were you distracting yourself with?” 

Clarke seems to shut down a little at that, and he instantly tries to backtrack. “Hey, hey, you don’t have to show me, I just thought maybe-” she interrupts him with a hand on his arm.

“It’s okay, Bellamy. It’s fine. Just…” she looks down at the table, swallowing. Her fingers curl into the material of his sleeve. 

“Okay.” She says more to herself than him, drawing her hand back and lifting her arm so she can turn the book in his direction.

As he looks down at the sketch, his heart stutters a little, the traitor. 

“I guess I was distracting myself… with you.” her voice sounds far away, but the words are still enough to make his mouth go dry as he stares down at her half-finished drawing. He stands in side-profile, light pencil strokes behind him against the dark shading giving the appearance that he’s lighting up the night. 

Clarke speaks again, breaking his concentration. “It’s not done, and it’s fine if you think I’m crossing or line or something, I can just scrap it…” 

Bellamy looks up at her and she breaks off mid sentence, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. He tries not to overthink that too much. Any of it. Clarke draws people she cares about, he knows this. Everyone knows this. Just a few days ago, she gifted him with a sketch of Octavia. It doesn’t mean anything.

He clears his throat. “It’s good, Clarke. Really good.” He pushes it back towards her. “You should show me when it’s finished.”

She nods at him silently, a smile ghosting over her features as she shuts the sketchbook. He realises she’s blushing, the skin on her face and her neck and her chest turning at a pretty pink that has him clearing his throat again and dragging his eyes away from her. 

“I should probably get to bed. Long night.” He meets her gaze again, smiles apologetically. 

Clarke nods “Of course. Sorry for keeping you up.” Bellamy’s sleep deprived mind might be imagining things, but he thinks she sounds almost disappointed. They stand up at the same time, her picking up her sketchbook and him grabbing his gun.

“I’ll walk you back” he offers, inclining his head towards the west corridor. “It’s on the way.” he elaborates stupidly, like she doesn’t already know. 

“I know.” she says softly, falling into step with him. The walk is short, spent in comfortable silence and soon enough they’re approaching her quarters. They pause at the door, and he’s just about to tell her goodnight when she turns to him, looking a little sheepish.

“Hey, since we’ve been back, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” Bellamy stills, breath caught on an exhale. 

Clarke leans against the doorway and tilts her head at him, none the wiser. “Could you teach me to drive the Rover? I should probably learn sooner than later.” He blinks at her. 

She raises her eyebrows at him when he takes a moment too long to reply. “Uh. Sure. Yeah, of course.” He runs a hand through his hair. “Can’t promise I’ll be a good teacher though, princess.” 

The old nickname slips out of its own volition. 

Clarke just smiles, ducking her head. “You’ll be great. Tomorrow evening okay?”

Bellamy nods, shifting on his feet “That works. But you’re gonna need to get some sleep first.” He tells her, pointedly.

“Right. Goodnight, Bellamy.” She flashes one last smile at him and turns away to open her door. He doesn’t walk away until she’s inside. 

-

Miraculously, Clarke isn’t late to the daily progress meeting early the next morning. She is the last one there though, Raven and Monty already bent over the desk with their heads together. Monty looks up first when she enters.

“Hey, Clarke.” He greets, waving her over. She joins them at the desk. 

“Where’s Bellamy?” Raven asks without taking her eyes off the map spread out in front of them. 

“He had the night watch.” Clarke tells her, angling her body to see the map better. 

Monty nods in confirmation, “I remember him mentioning that yesterday.” 

Raven marks a spot on the map with a black marker and then stands up straight. “Great. Then whoever sees him first can catch him up. Not that there’s much to catch up on.” 

Monty nudges Clarke as Raven starts to go into a spiel about the timeline of the reactor meltdowns, “That’ll be your job then.” He stage-whispers. Clarke shoots him a glare and turns her attention back to their friend.

When medical goes quiet after lunch, Jackson catches Clarke stifling a yawn and persuades her to go take a nap. She sleeps for too long, waking up disoriented with her hair messy and her clothes disheveled. Blinking blearily, she fixes her hair and tugs her shoes and jacket back on, before slipping out the door to grab a late lunch. 

Monty was wrong. 

She’s not the first person to see Bellamy that day, as it turns out.

Clarke returns to medical to find Raven perched on a bed, chatting to Jackson. When she sees Clarke approaching she pushes herself on the bed and meets her halfway, her ponytail swinging with every step.

“I saw Bellamy on the way over here. Updated him up on everything.” Raven informs her, to which Clarke responds with a slight nod. The brunette pauses, gazing at her searchingly. 

“He said to tell you to meet him at the Rover when your shift is finished. You guys going somewhere?” 

Clarke smiles wryly and shakes her head. “Not really. He’s teaching me to drive.” 

Raven raises a single eyebrow. “Wow. Little hurt you didn’t ask me first.” 

She doesn’t sound upset in the slightest, but Clarke feels the need to defend herself. “It’s not- I’m sorry I just..” She shrugs. “Thought of him, first, I guess.” 

Raven smirks at that. “Of course you did. Hope you have fun. ” 

She claps a hand on Clarke’s shoulder as she leaves. Clarke turns to watch her go with a frown, with the distinct feeling that she’s missing something.

Clarke decides to take advantage of the mild weather and walk through the centre of camp towards the open bay doors. She spots Bellamy quickly, leaning against the hood of the Rover with his arms crossed in a way that reminds her of the arrogant persona he had when they first landed on the ground. His head is turned away from her, clearly expecting to see her coming from the other direction. 

She calls out his name when she’s close enough and he turns to look at her, a smile immediately forming on his face. Clarke smiles back, determinedly ignoring her heart rate picking up. 

“Hey” he greets, pushing off the vehicle and unfolding his arms. “Are you all ready?” 

Clarke comes to a stop in front of him. “As much as I could ever be, yeah.” 

“Perfect.” 

She follows him round the front of the Rover, until they’re in front of the driver’s door, which he opens with a slight flourish. “Hop in.” Clarke shakes her head, fond. “I could’ve opened my own door.” She mumbles as she slips past him. But she’s grateful for the hand he places on her back to steady her as she climbs up into her seat. 

-

Closing the door behind Clarke, Bellamy makes his way back to the passenger side and quickly settles into the seat, glancing over at Clarke to find her running her hands up and down the steering wheel, teeth digging into her bottom lip nervously. 

“You okay?” he questions, shifting his body to face her. Hands stilling, she looks over to him. 

“Yeah, just thinking.” She drums her fingers against the wheel. “That I might be completely terrible at this.” She smiles grimly, turning her gaze to her lap. 

Bellamy softens. “I’ve never known you to be terrible at anything.” Clarke’s eyes snap back to his, something unreadable in them. He tilts his head at her questioningly.

“Never had you pegged for a liar, Bellamy.” she says finally, voice deceptively casual. He rolls his eyes but can’t stop himself from half-smiling.  
“I’m not lying, Clarke. I’m just … motivating you.” She actually laughs at that, the first time he’s heard her really laugh since the dropship. Her eyes are bright and her smile wide and he’s hit with the thought that he could easily lean across the short distance between them, cup her jaw and feel that smile against his own. 

“Motivating me, huh? I should’ve guessed. Are you gonna launch into a whole speech?”

Instead he just swallows and tears his eyes away from her. “Do you need a whole speech or can we actually get started?” Clarke moves her hands back to the wheel, looks at him expectantly.

“I think you can hold off on the speech. What first?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second part should be posted in a week or two. Please comment if you didn't completely hate this and come cry with me about bellarke on twitter  @likeabloodstain  and tumblr  griffinbellamy.


	2. you say you wanna go slow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They walk back to the Rover in silence. It’s not uncomfortable, per se. But the air feels tense, like it’s buzzing with electricity. He’d worry that it had something to do with radiation, or whatever other disaster the planet sees fit to throw at them, but he knows that that’s not it. 
> 
> It’s him and Clarke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a little long to get around to writing and posting than I thought it would, but oh well. Shout out to Lennon for proofreading again and shout out to Mrs Eliza Taylor Morley whose birthday is tomorrow. Enjoy Bellamy and Clarke being soft pining idiots.

Clarke didn’t ask for driving lessons just so she could spend more time with Bellamy. She really didn’t. She needed to learn. And if their almost daily sessions mean she gets to watch his hands with rapturous focus whilst he explains how to execute a turn safely, or feel that warm buzz in her stomach every time he smiles proudly at her for doing something right, then that’s just a nice side effect.

They’ve driven to a clearing a couple of miles outside of Arkadia, Bellamy taking the wheel on the way there and swapping over with Clarke once they were at their destination. He seems pleased with her progress today, and when she suggests they take a walk in the woods to stretch their legs, he obliges.

Bellamy pats the hood of the Rover as they walk away with the kind of fondness most people would reserve for living creatures, and she’s still shaking her head in bewilderment when he turns around to face her. 

“What?” he asks defensively.

Clarke bites back a smile. “Nothing. Nothing at all.” 

He gives her an exasperated look as he catches up with her, falling perfectly in sync with her footsteps, despite the fact that he could easily be strides ahead of her with minimal effort. 

She flicks her gaze up to the sun high in the sky above them. “The weather’s good today.”

Bellamy hums noncommittally. “I’m not sure we have much nice weather left.” he replies grimly. 

Clarke barks out a startled laugh. “Thanks for the reminder.”

She can feel his gaze on her and meets it. He shakes a curl out of his eyes and looks away. 

“Sorry. It’s just all I can think about at the moment.” 

Their path takes them into a shadier part of the forest, shadows falling over his face as he looks back over at her, eyes observant. She thinks suddenly of her drawing of him, the first he’s seen but certainly not the first she’d done and has to fight the blush threatening to show on her face.

“I get it.” Clarke bites her lip. “Better than thinking about Octavia, right?”

Bellamy doesn’t stop walking but his steps do falter for a moment and she wonders if she was better off avoiding talking about his sister, like she had for the entire time they’d been home.

“They’re kind of one and the same, actually. I can’t really think about one without thinking about the other.” 

Clarke tilts her head at him, slows her steps until she’s stopped altogether. He catches on and pauses, turns to her.

He swallows. His voice is thick when he speaks again.

“I hate the thought that I could die before we’ve worked things out. Knowing that my little sister hates my guts.” He turns his face to the trees, but she can see him blinking away tears anyway.

She takes a step towards him, turning her words over in her head.

“Bellamy. You’re not gonna die.” 

He’s still not looking at her, so she places a hand on his elbow. That gets his attention.

“Neither is Octavia. I swear, we’ll figure something out. You’ll have more time.”

He smiles sadly. “You can’t promise that.”

“I can’t promise anything. But you know how stubborn I can be when I want something done, better than anyone.”

That gets a watery laugh out of him, which is about the best she could expect.

-

Bellamy wipes his eyes and looks at his best friend, whose eyes are so soft and smile so gentle that it makes his heart ache. He’s hit with a sudden wave of affection and appreciation, and before he can overthink it he’s stepping into her space and moving one hand to her arm, the other to her face, and pressing his lips to her temple. Clarke stills under his touch. He pulls away, drops his hands, goes to glance down at her but she’s already moving in closer, wrapping her arms around his waist and tucking her head half-way under his chin, cheek pressed to his collarbone. He can feel her breath on his jaw when he slides his arms around her.

“Thank you.” he whispers into her hair. She doesn’t answer, doesn’t give any sign that she’s heard him except to tighten her hold on him infinitesimally.

They walk back to the Rover in silence. It’s not uncomfortable, per se. But the air feels tense, like it’s buzzing with electricity. He’d worry that it had something to do with radiation, or whatever other disaster the planet sees fit to throw at them, but he knows that that’s not it. 

It’s him and Clarke. 

She seems fine on the short drive back to Arkadia, although she doesn’t look at him, choosing to glance out the window instead. The silence still feels loaded to him, but he doesn’t break it. 

He wouldn’t know what to say. There’s no easy way to tell someone that you can’t stop thinking about how their skin felt under your lips, or how their body seems to fit perfectly to yours. 

Bellamy tightens his grip on the steering wheel and thinks about the invisible clock ticking above both their heads. Above everyone’s. 

When Clarke asks him if they’re driving again tomorrow, he stutters out an excuse about having a long shift and hurries their goodbye, walking out of the garage twice as fast as he normally would. He can feel her worried gaze on his back long after he’s left.

-

Clarke chews her lip anxiously as she raises her fist to knock on the door. She leaves it hanging in midair as she wimps out, considering just walking away and hoping that eventually her closest friend will stop avoiding her.

But it’s already been a day without a real conversation between the two of them, and considering they’re in the same location that feels like far too long. 

Her internal struggle is interrupted by someone loudly clearing their throat.

She startles, turning towards the noise to find Monty standing down the corridor, wearing an amused grin.  
“Do you need me to knock for you?”

Clarke blinks. 

“What? No, no..I’m just.. I don’t want to disturb him.” She smiles weakly.

Monty walks towards her and joins her at Bellamy’s door.

“I think you’re the one person he’d be okay with being disturbed by, actually.” He says, knocking his shoulder into hers.

She sighs. “Not right now he wouldn’t.”

Monty frowns, brow furrowing. “Are you guys fighting or something?”

“Or something.” She looks at the floor. “He’s avoiding me.”

“Do you know why?”

“I think so.” She meets her friend’s gaze. “Octavia.” She’s pretty sure it’s more than that, but Monty doesn’t need to know about something she’s not even sure of herself.

Monty nods in understanding. “Right.”

He studies her for a second, and then without warning he leans past her and raps on the door twice. 

“Monty-” She starts as she moves away, trying to yank him back towards her but he bounces out of her reach and starts walking down the corridor, turning to salute her with a wink just as the door opens.

“Clarke?” 

She turns at the sound of his voice, finding Bellamy blinking down at her in surprise. He’s not wearing his jacket, and it takes an embarrassing amount of self-control not to openly gaze at the way his arms are straining the sleeves of his t-shirt.

“Hey” she gets out, stilted. “Can we talk?” 

He only hesitates a moment before he nods and moves out of the way to let her in.

Her arm brushes his chest as she walks past.

She stops in the middle of the room and crosses her arms over her chest when she turns to face him.

“You’re avoiding me.” It comes out harsher than she intends it to. 

Bellamy looks guilty, opening his mouth to speak but she holds up a hand and he doesn't get a word out.

She inhales. “I know that it’s probably because I brought up Octavia before you were ready, or maybe you’ve just been seeing too much of me because of the driving lessons but-” 

“Clarke.” He says quiet, but clear, cutting her off mid sentence. “It’s not about Octavia.” 

“I know.” She matches his tone. “You should’ve let me finish.”

Clarke watches as his face turns shocked. “What were you going to say?” 

She crosses the room to stand in front of him, so their chests are almost brushing. He doesn't move away, but she can see the bob of his throat as he swallows. 

“You interrupted me. If it’s not about Octavia, what is it about?” 

Never one to back down from a challenge, Bellamy looks away from her before he speaks.

“You.” 

She’s not entirely surprised by the answer, but it still makes her heartrate kick up a beat or two.

“What do you mean?” she half-whispers.

He turns his face back towards her like it causes him physical pain. 

“After the forest.. I just feel like I can’t lie to you anymore.” 

“About what?” 

Bellamy closes his eyes. 

His voice is so quiet she would have to strain to hear it if she was standing any further away. 

“You know what.” 

Clarke sucks in a breath before she raises her hand to his face, brushes a soft curl away from his forehead.

She watches the flutter of his eyelashes as he opens his eyes. Admires the dusting of freckles underneath, how they still look like constellations even up close. He leans into her touch.

Feeling a sudden rush of courage, she leans in and guides his head down gently until their foreheads are touching.

“Maybe you should tell me anyway.” She can see the different shades of brown in his irises.

His hand comes up to rest on her waist, hesitant. She can feel the warmth on her skin through two layers of clothing. 

Bellamy speaks just as she's twisting her other hand into the curls at the back of his neck.

“I love you.” She can feel his warm breath ghosting over her lips.

Clarke doesn’t have to move far to capture his. 

The hand on her waist pulls her in impossibly closer and the other curls around her shoulders until she’s pressed flush to him and she smiles into his mouth, breaking the kiss for a moment so she can pull back to see a dazzling grin mirroring her own. 

“Me too.” She’s still fearful of saying the words aloud but it doesn’t seem matter to Bellamy, who just kisses her again with a renewed vigour that makes her whine when he pulls away. She moves her grip to his broad shoulders.

“Do you wanna go get dinner together?” He asks, smirking. His hair is even messier than usual, she notes, proudly.

“Like a date?” Clarke bites her lip, irrationally shy.

“No, actually. We need to talk about the guard rotation-” she slaps his shoulder at that and he just laughs, tracing circles on her hip with his thumb. 

“Still an ass.” She mutters, openly contrary to the dopey grin she’s currently wearing.

“Still a princess” He snarks back, kissing the corner of her mouth and tugging on a lock of her hair. 

She slots their mouths back together in lieu of an answer, wondering how much of those lessons will be spent driving now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys... I just really wanted Bellamy to kiss Clarke on the head in canon okay. And also on the lips. I can be found yelling into the void/arguing with people on twitter  @likeabloodstain and reblogging nonsensical text posts and pretty gifsets on tumblr griffinbellamy


End file.
